Today’s News - Wednesday, January 31, 2018
● We try to stay away from politics, but after hearing Trump say last night: "To everyone still recovering" from hurricanes, wild fires, mudslides, etc., "we are with you, we love you, and we will pull through together," this really sticks in our craw: FEMA plans to "officially shut off" its food and water aid to Puerto Rico - as of today! "This was apparently a surprise to the Puerto Rico government."
● Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security issues waivers to get around environmental and historic preservation laws (about 30!) to fast-track an 18-foot-tall wall along a 20-mile-long stretch of the New Mexico/Mexico border (lawsuits already in motion).
● Can't pin the blame on Calatrava this time: Newly-disclosed documents show that his Margaret McDermott Bridge in Dallas "began to crack up under the stress of high winds - Calatrava consistently urged the city to get the proper testing done and even offered to lend the city money to cover the cost."
● Post-Grenfell grief: "London estates are freezing and damp after cladding and insulation were removed" (only 3 of 26 buildings "have had full replacements put in").
● A report by the U.K.'s Creative Industries Federation calls on the government to make hiring foreign architects easier, post-Brexit, or "the competitiveness of British building design practices would be damaged."
● On to brighter news: In the mountains on the outskirts of Manila, Batulao Artscapes is "the world's first live-in art park" developed by Revolution Pre-crafted, a rising star in the pre-fab world, with houses by starchitects, and four (4!) museums by Pritzker winners (whose name isn't on the list!).
● Moore considers engineered timber's rising star as "the 'new concrete.' Mild-mannered, unassuming timber has gone into a phone box and come out as a super-substance" - CLT is "going mainstream."
● Volner profiles Lever Architects, a firm that is turning "lumber construction into an art form" by "recasting the humble material as an urbane powerhouse, one project at a time."
● Jen cheers KPMB's "remarkable" Remai Modern in Saskatoon, Canada, that "elevates the quality of the city's architecture to a level not seen since the 1960s with its confidence, elegance, gravitas and power" (all while being "hemmed in" by a freeway and "buildings of distressing mediocrity").
● Gordon parses how new education architecture is addressing changing needs as universities go online, and "following the workplace revolution" with "spaces that are open and adaptable."
● Marriott signs up for the $3 billion Water Street Tampa project with plans for a luxury hotel with a focus on wellness (and WELL standards).
● Ulam's Q&A with Signe Nielsen re: "how we can better safeguard the public realm and her concerns that planners will start fencing off public spaces with an excessive number of bollards."
● Preservationists and Bunshaft/Noguchi fans are none too pleased with plans to plop planters into the middle of the plaza of Lower Manhattan's "celebrated" 140 Broadway and make "changes that would discourage food vendors" (who feed thousands of office workers in the nabe).
● Hickman offers an in-depth, well-researched take on Dunlop's proposal to build a 25-mile bridge between Scotland with Northern Ireland that some politicians are getting behind - there's "a fair amount of skepticism" (minus the Boris Johnson-level ridicule), but "many are opting to don rose-colored glasses."
● A wonderful round-up of mimetic architecture, "the 'ducks' left the highways and became gimmicky tourist attractions," and more recent, "subtler" ducks "using understated motifs to hint at a building's function" (a "golden turd" included).
Winners all:
● Litt lauds a stellar shortlist of nine semifinalists vying to design the Cleveland Public Library's Martin Luther King Jr. Branch.
● A great presentation of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture/ACSA 2017-2018 Architectural Education Award winners.
● Eyefuls of the winners of the "New Central Part of Borovets" for the Bulgarian ski resort.
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FEMA is ending its food and water aid in Puerto Rico: The agency plans to “officially shut off” its aid...on Wednesday...[said] the aid was “no longer needed” because “the commercial supply chain for food and water is re-established and private suppliers are sufficiently available"...This was apparently a surprise to the Puerto Rico government...“We were not informed that supplies would stop arriving, nor did the Government of Puerto Rico agree with this action”...- Grist Magazine |
Trump administration waives over 30 laws to jumpstart border wall construction: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a series of waivers for the construction of a border wall section in New Mexico... [waivers] include the National Environmental Policy Act, which would have required an environmental review...the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Endangered Species Act...American Indian Religious Freedom Act, Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and the National Historic Preservation Act. -- Center for Biological Diversity- The Architect's Newspaper |
Undisclosed Documents Reveal Flaws in Margaret McDermott Bridge, Preventing Opening: ...bridge began to crack up under the stress of high winds...All of the parties point angry fingers. Nothing is resolved. The pedestrian and bicycle lane...remains closed behind trespassing signs...Santiago Calatrava consistently urged the city to get the proper testing done and even offered to lend the city money to cover the cost...tacked-on $115 million decorative arches are causing the crisis now...value-engineering...was the city’s key strategy for dealing with projected jumps in cost...- Dallas Observer |
London Estates Are Freezing and Damp After Cladding Was Removed Post-Grenfell: The removal of cladding for safety reasons has left some homes exposed to the elements: ...26 buildings across the UK have had their cladding and insulation removed. Only three of those have had full replacements put in...- Vice |
Hiring foreign architects must be made easier, says creative industries body: Ministers have been urged to ensure that architects’ qualifications are recognised across borders after Brexit: The Creative Industries Federation (CIF) said the competitiveness of British building design practices would be damaged if it became harder for staff from the EU to work here...report called on the government to encourage regulators to open talks with new partners for the mutual recognition of qualifications.- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Batulao Artscapes: The World's First Live-in Art Park: A mountain range on the outskirts of Manila may be the last place you'd expect to find a world-class art museum, let alone four: Since he started Revolution Pre-crafted in 2015, Robbie Antonio has made headlines by successfully enlisting more than 30 of the world’s star architects...to work on his ambitious prefab projects.... -- Christian de Portzamparc; Jean Nouvel; Philip Johnson/Alan Ritchie Architects; Tange Associates; Studio Libeskind; Elizabeth de Portzamparc; Pelli Clarke Pelli; Marmol Radziner; Daphne Guinness; Lenny Kravitz; Marcel Wanders; Zaha Hadid Architects [images]- Hong Kong Tatler |
Rowan Moore: Why wood is back at the top of the tree for architects: Strong, clean and versatile, engineered timber is the ‘new concrete’: Mild-mannered, unassuming timber has gone into a phone box and come out as a super-substance...cross-laminated timber (CLT)...is hardly news in the architectural world, but it is now at the point where it’s going mainstream...the revolution promised by the believers in timber may yet not happen. But the case for it looks compelling... -- Alex de Rijke/dRMM architects; Andrew Waugh/Waugh Thistleton; MGA | Michael Green Architecture- Observer (UK) |
Ian Volner: Lever Architects Elevates Lumber Construction to an Art Form: The Portland, Oregon, firm is recasting the humble material as an urbane powerhouse, one project at a time: ...engaged in what will be not only its largest wood building to date, but among the largest of its kind anywhere in the world...Framework will be a 12-story mixed-use tower in downtown Portland composed entirely of cross-laminated timber [CLT], a daring application... [images]- Surface magazine |
Leslie Jen: Prairie Transformation: Saskatoon is one of the fastest-growing cities in Canada...Part of this story of transformation is the remarkable Remai Modern...elevates the quality of the city’s architecture to a level not seen since the 1960s with its confidence, elegance, gravitas and power...and brings coherence to a crowded River Landing site that is becoming denser by the day. -- Bruce Kuwabara/KPMB Architects [images]- Canadian Architect |
Adam Gordon: As Universities Go Online, Architects Rework Buildings For 'Active' Learning: Now that students are getting their bread-and-butter learning online, the real world becomes where collaborative, enriching, group learning “experiences” happen. The demands on the space are changing...new education architecture needs to address...education building design is following the workplace revolution...spaces that are open and adaptable, to encourage fluid, collaborative interactions. This itself was office buildings mimicking artisan and design company studio formats. -- Andy Cohen/David Broz/Gensler- Forbes |
Marriott signs deal for luxury hotel at US$3bn Water Street Tampa project: The 519-room, 26-storey hotel... Designed to be a “centre of activity”...There will also be a focus on wellness...Water Street Tampa one of the largest urban mixed-use real-estate developments in the US...includes more than nine million sq ft...one of the first large-scale projects to have shown interest in achieving the new WELL Community Standard, launched by The International Well Building Institute. -- Nichols Brosch Wurst Wolfe & Associates; Champalimaud Design [image]- CLAD (Community of Leisure Architects & Designers) |
Alex Ulam: After NYC truck attack, how can we go beyond reactionary design responses? Ever since a terrorist in a rental truck sped down the Hudson River Park Bikeway in Lower Manhattan this past October...the popular bike path has been in lockdown mode...Signe Nielsen, a principal of Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects, which designed the bikeway [talks] about how we can better safeguard the public realm and her concerns that planners will start fencing off public spaces with an excessive number of bollards.- The Architect's Newspaper |
Lower Manhattan’s celebrated 140 Broadway may get unwelcome ornament: Proposed changes include the addition of planters and street furniture: ...the owners...to ask the Landmarks Preservation Commission to approve changes...notably the addition of new, circular planters that would be plopped into the middle of the plaza...owners also want...changes that would discourage street vendors... -- Gordon Bunshaft/Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (1968); Isamu Noguchi; Ada Louise Huxtable; The Cultural Landscape Foundation/TCLF; Alexandra Lange; NV5 [images]- Curbed New York |
Matt Hickman: Famous architect proposes bridge linking Scotland and Ireland (and no one laughs): Poor Boris Johnson...floated a grand idea: a bridge that would span 22 miles across the English Channel...non-starter was scoffed at and quickly waved off...sparking the idea for another lengthy landmark bridge that some politicians are throwing their support behind...a road/rail crossing...to connect Scotland with Northern Ireland...a plan of such ambition has been greeted by a fair amount of skepticism (but minus the Johnson-level ridicule)...Still, many...are opting to don rose-colored glasses. -- Alan Dunlop- Mother Nature Network |
Mimetic architecture: Why does this building look like a fish? ...the "ducks" left the highways and became gimmicky tourist attractions...Today mimetic architecture is often dismissed as too kitsch or tacky to be taken seriously. But some mimesis is subtler, using understated motifs to hint at a building's function..."If it's good it can be wonderful, humorous and unique. If it's bad, well, it's just a bad advert." -- Terry Farrell; Robert Venturi & Denise Scott-Brown; Henry Squire/Squire and Partners; Igor Shumin; Nikken Seikei; Philippe Starck; Stefan Behling/Foster + Partners [IMAGES]- CNN Style |
Steven Litt: Cleveland Public Library names nine semifinalists in MLK Branch design competition: ...has whittled the number of teams competing to design its new $10 million Martin Luther King Jr. Branch...from 31 entrants to nine semifinalists... -- LAND Studio; SO-IL/JKURTZ Architects; Condition Architecture/Hasenstab Architects; John Ronan Architects/Michael Boucher; Bialosky + Partners/Vines Architecture; MASS Design Group/LDA Architects; Clement Blanchet Architecture/City Architecture/Boulevard Studios; Moody Nolan/Arup Group; WXY architecture + urban design/DLR/Westlake Reed Leskosky/Margaret Sullivan Studio/Local Projects; Howeler + Yoon Architecture/Ziska Architecture- Cleveland Plain Dealer |
Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture/ACSA 2017-2018 Architectural Education Award Winners: ...honor architectural educators for exemplary work in areas such as building design, community collaborations, scholarship, and service. -- Jorge Silvetti / 2018 Topaz Medallion- Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) |
Winners of the International Architectural Competition "New Central Part of Borovets": The winning project offers a safe semi-covered ski, bicycle and pedestrian connection between the slopes and the lift stations...combines retail spaces, information center, sport and recreation areas, underground parking and spaces for exhibitions and events. -- William Matthews Associates (UK); A.D.A. Ltd. (Bulgaria); Project Vitae Ltd. (Bulgaria) [images]- Municipality of Samokov / Bulgarian Chamber of Architects / Union of Architects, Bulgaria / Urbanistas |
ANN feature: Ashley Lovell: From Warehouse to Wired Green Workspace: The Alliance Center in Denver, designed by Gensler for the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado, offers a model for how aging buildings can be transformed into thriving, sustainability-focused, collaborative workspaces. [images]- ArchNewsNow.com |
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